CHAPTER 4. RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCREASE LOW ADAPTIVE
4.2 Solutions to increase AC of aquaculture households in Cho Moi district
In order to improve the AC index, local authorities need management measures to enable these households to access capital resources to enhance their natural resilience, social resilience, and transforming challenges into development opportunities.
Recommendation on five capital access
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Human capital
Research results show that CC awareness is an important indicator affecting many individual AC indicators. Therefore, the government needs to organize training courses to improve the specialized knowledge of aquaculture and ecosystem approach to fishery management (EAFM) for fish farmers. The knowledge gained from these classes will become a foundation for them to enhance the autonomous adaptation to CC and extreme weather.
Communication and forecasting activities need to be disseminated to the locality in various and diverse forms such as television, radio, press, social networks, etc. In addition, the government needs to strengthen coordination with the meteorological and hydrological agencies to forecast the initial phase so that households can respond early against a bad situation.
Financial capital
There should be a flexible lending mechanism for aquaculture households to make loans for households who want to expand their area but have difficulty in the capital. In particular, loans for households living in floating houses because these do not own property attached to the land that the bank rarely make a deal with them.
In addition, policies with low-interest loans should be issued for households that need to invest in waste and wastewater treatment technology, yield improvement, and increase the number of production crop seasons.
Natural capital
There are mechanisms and policies to manage, exploit, use effectively, and reasonably land and water resources serving for aquaculture. Although the parameters of the water environment are largely within the permitted limits of the government, a sustainable solution to water resources management is needed in the context of CC and unexpected and unpredictable natural disasters.
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Physical capital
Planning and implementing aquaculture planning seriously and sustainably.
In the planning, it is necessary to classify the aquaculture models by clusters and zones. Guide households to build waste and wastewater treatment systems complying with the current standards. Moreover, drainage systems should be constructed to effectively regulate water, avoiding water shortages in the dry season and flooding in the rainy season.
Social capital
Support women who are members of aquaculture households to participate in social organizations such as Women's Union, Farmer's Union. From there, they will be given the opportunity to access timely information from the government in order to improve the gender equality indicator through the contents like job announcements, access to social insurance, policies, and laws.
Provide them job opportunities and livelihood diversification that is also a good way to help aquaculture households maintain not only their income and social stability but also increase concerned social indicators.
Technological recommendation
Technology is one of the key solutions aimed at not only enhancing low AC indicators but also boosting medium, high AC indicators. It can change backward production practices into balance between economic and environmental factors.
Some major technological solutions are proposed to integrate in policies, plans and projects as follows:
- Supporting local research centers and hatcheries to research and breed new, quality fish species adaptable to the local climate.
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- Supporting households to apply modern information technology and techniques to water management and treatment to increase productivity and reduce labor costs.
- Building a local database and forecast future risks. On that basis, the government will set an early warning system to mitigate losses by CC to the aquaculture sector.
4.2.2 Recommendations for increasing autonomous adaptation for households Households owned an earthen pond system
These households had the lowest AC to CC. There were 14/17 AC indicators below the total score that need to be improved. Some specific solutions are proposed to improve the AC of whom, including:
- Actively explore and learn about farming techniques from successful models in reality and participate in some training courses on aquaculture disease control and management techniques held by local authorities;
- Positively linking production and searching for consumer markets, avoiding passive production at the end of the crop;
- Regularly monitor the weather forecast, hydro-meteorology in the area.
There is a solution to improve CC resilience and adaptation and climate variability as floods, water shortages, and extreme events in the near future.
Households owned a floating house
These households have a lower AC than cement/rubber tanks but are higher than earthen ponds. 11/17 AC indicators below the total score need to be improved.
Apart from solutions for earthen pond system, they add some solutions below to boost the AC indicators which are still weak such as:
- Households should pay attention to selecting good and qualified seed production facilities to reduce the loss of fish.
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- Regularly monitor water quality for coping measures. Too low or too high water levels make the water environment fluctuate that will affect the growth and development of fish.